A Thief's Story
by Mr.Unlikely
Summary: Mathew has been entrusted with the duty of being a spy for a certain individual, letting him create his own path. Yet, only time would tell if he could keep to the mission or would other issues come along to sway his judgment. (Not very good at summaries.)


Narration-Part one.

This story is of the thief that held the hearts of many; a sole spy that worked to become the very best. It did not matter how he did it, but he would kill to accomplish his goals without hesitation. That was how the roles were shuffled, and he liked the cards he was dealt. It didn't take long before he became a great spy for Ostia, and he was offered the opportunity to be even more. Years went by as his skills developed into that of a pure thief; he held his allies close, and his enemies closer in the strength of his trade. Now, given a new task from his superiors, he heads for the city of Araphen to begin his next assignment.

…

My mission is to get information from a group that was headed by Lyn. Lyn was alleged to be the grandchild of the Marquess of Caelin, and it was important to verify this to protect Ostia's interests. Of course, how to join the group without becoming a hindrance to their party. I could just go up to her and be like, I would like to volunteer my services… but would that really work in my favor? *Sigh* It is much harder to join a group than to get hired by one.

A thought came into my mind to start a fight in the middle of the street, then she would have to ask me to join to help fend off the riot. However, that would simply cause too many problems… hmm. When her group came into the town, I stood idling by for the time being. That was when I noticed that smoke was coming from the castle, and I wondered what trouble that could entail.

Just then, A group of soldiers rushed past the crowd while a knight approached their group. They were talking to each other, when the assassin came out of nowhere and tried to kill Lyn. Luckily, an archer came into the conflict and defeated the aggressor with a swift strike by his arrow. I just stood back, hurrying into the closest building to observe the battle.

It was when the two sides began to advance, lances, swords, axes and magic. They all collided into the field, what a better way to see who to join now. The choice was quite clear because of my mission, but it's always fun to see the other side of life. Though it wasn't long before the battle dragged towards my hiding place.

I waited for the perfect moment to appear out of my shadows; a girl with green hair, which was Lyn rushed into the house. Looking to warn the people to stay home and not be involved with the conflict. That was when I readied my knife, while she finally laid eyes on me. Startled, she was ready to attack me, but I just gazed at her with a calm smile.

"Hey you, can I talk to you." I said without a moment of hesitation.

"Who are you?" She said, surprised at my outburst.

"I'm Matthew, a specialist in acquisitions of all kinds. Would you like to buy my services?" I smirked at her.

"I've no need for a thief" She said flatly as she looked at me with disgust.

"Really? And how do you plan on opening the barrack doors?"

"What? How did you know about…"

"Bullseye!"

"…"

"Don't be mad. Hire me. For you, I'll even lower my normal rate."

"I do need those doors opened… ok. You're hired."

"Why did you choose to ally yourself with me?"

"Hm? I was watching the battle from up above. Your group looked a lot more fun than the dead guy. Pretty simple, really."

"You're so odd."

"It's time to get to work!"

I rushed into the field, while the other meat shield rushed off into battle. I slipped away without a sound, getting to the barracks door to open the door right up. That was when a soldier had gotten in my direction and I unleashed my dagger out of my arm. I waited until he attacked with his lance, to evade to the side. Still moving forward, I impaled my dagger into his throat and I didn't stop there.

I twisted the dagger to ensure his death, causing his throat wound to open up. The blood flowed from his wound, onto my dagger. After I finished with this act, I found a key on his body, but I turned around to spot a brown hair knight on his horse. He approached me with his lance, ready to attack me, but I quickly tumbled away from him in time.

"I missed, time to loop around."

"Hey, I am on your side!"

The knight stopped in place, while he looked at me with a frown.

"Yeah, right, like our lady would allow a thief to join us. Get ready to fall."

I responded first by tossing a dagger past his head, colliding with another soldier in the chest. He turned around to spot the dead soldier, and looked back at me.

"Believe what you want, I have a job to do."

The knight only lets me pass to the door, but I smirked at him.

"Hey knight, here." I said nonchalantly, while I chucked out the key at him.

He caught it in his hand, wondering what to do with it.

"Don't you need it?"

"I'm a thief, remember? I can open this door without a key. Get it to the next door on the other side, and quick."

He just nodded and rushed off to the next door. Taking a few moments of my time to find a safe way for me to get to the doorway. I peered through the open door and with no enemies in sight; I went to active the switch to allow the group to move on. I wondered about them, if they had hit the second switch in time.

That was when I spotted the best thing in life; a treasure chest with my name on it. I looked around to see if anyone was watching me, which they weren't. I rushed over to the chest without a second thought. Working on the lock to get whatever was inside. For me, it really was my lucky day.

Cracking the lock was simple; it was what was inside that awed me. Such an important robe that was known as the angelic robe; I got the opportunity to put it aside for now. That was when the next switch activated, causing the next door to appear now. The other members of her group started to come near my position, so I decided to head forward towards the new door that was closed.

So another door to be picked open, which didn't take too long, but the moment that I had cracked it. The door swung right open, hitting me to the side as a soldier charged through with his lance at the ready. I flinched expecting the spear to pierce into me, but nothing materialized. When I opened my eyes, the soldier was dead on the floor as the knight from before was looking down at me.

"I returned the favor."

"Damn and I wanted you to owe me."

"Maybe next time, Thief."

"Bet on it."

I just nodded towards him and spotted another chest for my picking. Progressing to the treasure box with a sly smirk, I picked it as they were dealing with the rest of the enemies. Once the lock was taken off, I found a really nice piece of weaponry. An armor slayer was in my hand, the weapon was quite heavy, but it was used to cut through knight armor. I walked back to see if they had progressed to the final switch, while to my disliking they had not.

The knight leader was putting up a good fight; his armor had stopped most of the damage to his torso. Lyn was using her sword, trying to cut down the knight in combat while the others were finishing up the rest of the enemies, so this left me with a choice.

She was paying my fee, then perhaps I should go save her before something goes wrong. I am not a brawler anyway… I watched as the knight had bashed Lyn with his shield. Her stance broken as she couldn't evade the finishing blow that was heading her way. That was when I reacted to the scene, getting in the way of the lance. Maybe not the entire lance, only getting severely wounded in my left arm.

I screamed in pain, but went for the finishing blow with the armor slayer. The weapon pierced through his armor, impaling him in the chest. His mouth had blood flowing out of his mouth, while I have covered my wound with my now free arm. I fell to one knee, the pain starting to grow stronger with every waking moment that I wasn't getting healed.

"WHERE THE HELL IS THE CLERIC!" I hollered

The remainder of the troops went through the secret passage, while I mustered up the strength to lift myself up. That was when something whacked me on the back of the head, a staff of some sort. Still, I felt my body healing and felt many times better for the help. I looked around for the person that healed me, but I immediately regretted my decision.

"Isn't this a pretty sight, I feel that someone is staring at me." She said openly in a visionary voice.

I didn't say a word to her, as she started to march around with her pink hair. She was always a troublemaker, tends to speak too much and she was a pain in my arse. It was only around her that I tended to get pissed off so easily, but whatever.

Before she could finish her ranting, I stole away from the battlefield to a safer place. The rest of her group finished up the battle and I waited by the gate to speak with the leader. She was of course going to pay me after all. I spotted her slender form approaching my position with her hand on her blade, this didn't look good.

"So my payment?" I demanded bluntly.

"That is what I wanted to talk to you above; I want to extend your contract." She stated too clear to me.

"Extend my contract? What do you propose?" I asked now interested in her next set of words.

"We are going to Caelin to save my grandfather, once we reach the castle. I will pay you double your regular rate, if you join our group till then." Her tone was honest, as she tried to reason with me.

I smirked at her offer and put on my best poker face on.

"But of course!, if you are going to pay me that much. Then by all means I will join you on your adventure. Just one final question. Why do you choose to ally with me?" I sprang at her from our conversation from before.

"I… I mean, we need someone of your skills along our travel. We might run into similar problems, so it's always good to feel safe." She said, taken by my response.

"Say no more, I will join your group."

"Really?"

"Yeah, see you around." I said, while taking off before she could utter another word.

I waited around the forest till our group was ready to leave; it was time to head off towards the town of Kathelet. Wondering if joining this group for the time being was a peachy idea, or just a very bad career choice on my part. Only time will tell, which means that I am going to have to play along until I can see my lord again.


End file.
